I've just unsubscribed from the Linux Kernel list, which I wasfollowing since Linux 1.2. I unsubscribed, because I'll be on holidayfor the next three weeks. You still can send messages to my mailbox,but I can't handle several thousand messages once I'm back.

At this point I'd like to make a few personal statements about thislist and the people in this list.

First of all, I myself subscribed to this list to learn about newdevelopment in the kernel as well as to report and fix some bugs. I'mnot a real kernel developer, but just a user with interest in details.

As it seems, most readers of this list are "pure readers", people whoexpect to get valuable information about the kernel. Of course I can'tjudge over those people that I've never heard about, but interestinglythere are several people in that list who felt attacked by some messagesof the more active members of the list. I'm speaking about my ownmessages in particular.

Also surprising is the fact that all the people that flamed andinsulted me because of some of my not-too-technical, or inexactmessages were Germans (including Austrians as German speaking people).As said before these people also were not involved in mainstreamkernel development, but only "readers". Maybe this is what has beenfrequently criticized in connection with the "Commercial Internet":Companies are charging money for the access to the Internet, but thecustomers expect to find only valuable, correct and useful informationwherever they look into.

I myself see this as a marketplace for communication; of course you'llget told if you just said some nonsense, but fortunately most of that"nonsense" was neither intended nor because of lack of knowledge. It'sjust because you don't think enough before or while typingsometimes. Now the more clever participants in the list could arguethat such people like me should shut up, but maybe if the learn fromtheir mistakes, they can be useful some day (after having made enoughmistakes).

Fortunately the "true makers" in this list have a much better sense ofhumour than the average reader.

Also interesting was the fact that some people not visible connectedwith "small-soft" felt they had to defend that company from any of myevil words said about it. Please accept my excuses if someone feltpersonally attacked, just because he or she works for "small-soft"(often also called mega-dollar, or just M$). As I have to use theseproducts, usually I know how suitable they are in the real world ofbusiness.

Another interesting fact is what all the people adding to this listindirectly tell about themselves. You learn a lot about all thesepeople you've never met (Maybe it's just because I've also studiedpsychology in addition to computer science). But there's also adanger: You never know what someone is writing outside this list. Sobefore, someone tells me that all my messages were completely useless,or that I misspelled a word, he/she should try to find out what I'mreally doing. Nevertheless I admit that some of my messages wererather uninteresting to most of the readers in this list.

I'm not working mainly with Linux, but I strongly support the idea ofa high-quality, free operating system, that also is easy touse. Possibly I'm just a bug reporter, but I know what I don't know.